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Canada's elections - October 14

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Sheriff Roland:
Latest polls have the Conservatives support slipping (tanking?) in Quebec. And Prime Minister Harper expected to make significant gains in Quebec with his hopes for a majority government. The Bloc Quebecois is the beneficiary of the Conservative's losses.

And it's all about a mere 50 million$ rollback of funding of the arts.

See, Francophones are pretty big on their own culture. 70% of what Francophones watch on TV is made in Canada, while only about 10% of what Anglophones watch is actually made in Canada.

(from Scott Reid at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080924.welxnstrategists0924/BNStory/politics/home )

"In English only, (Harper) unleashed a demagogic rant against all them gala-going, tax-sucking sonsabitches in the fancy-schmancy arts community. Bet it felt very satisfying for a couple seconds. Then reality bit when he was asked to repeat his comments in French. He wisely declined."

So the Conservative majority might be slipping away - with only 2 and a half weeks left before election day.

On the personal level, I held my nose & voted for the Liberal candidate last time, even though he voted against his party's position on gay marriages. When Harper introduced a bill to revisit the decision (within a year after taking power), he again voted the 'wrong' way.

I'm seriously considering voting NDP this time. At least those members always vote the party platform. What's the point of voting for a Liberal if he's really a Conservative. Maybe if he loses, they'll have a real Liberal up next time. (But he's not likely to lose.)

Sheriff Roland:
Here's an article chastising Prime Minister Harper & his Conservatives

http://www.huntsvilleforester.com/article/117992

a few highlights:

(Mr. Harper's) disdain for Canadians isn’t new. Ten years ago when he was vice-president of the right-wing National Citizens’ Coalition he addressed a conservative American think-tank. He openly called Canada “A northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.”

His fawning admiration for the U.S. right wing continued: “Your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world.”  Is it really?  The light and inspiration that so thrills Mr. Harper now threatens to bring down the entire global economy.

.....

Mr. Harper disdains us and he tries to mislead us by pandering to people’s fears about violent crime. He promises that a re-elected Tory government will impose adult sentences on offenders as young as 14 years old.... This is a blatant attempt to play to people’s fears about a crime rate that, aside from certain types of crime, has been dropping for 15 years.

......

He continues to tell us that we are becoming “more conservative” as a people. That is simply not true. The Tories are ahead in the polls but a strong majority of Canadians (about 65 per cent) support the centrist Liberals and the further to the left NDP, Greens and Bloc Québécois.


And there's more, condemning Harper's political views that are tied (a little too closely) to the failed (failing?) economic policies that have been in place in the States since Reagan.

Sheriff Roland:
Tonight, while the American Vice-Presidential debate is happening (oops! your vp debate's tomorow during the english Canadian debate - sorry I got that wrong) we will have our first leader's debate (en francais) including the leaders of all 5 major parties.

Tomorrow, the english debate will be held.

As I've mentioned before, Harper's going to have to do very well tonight as his popularity in Quebec has been on the decline there, and without an additional 10 to 15 seats from Quebec, he's not expected to achieve his hopes for a majority conservative government. Tonight's debate might very well be the more important of the two.

Two weeks to go to election day.

Ellemeno:
Wow, so they debate in French and English?

Sheriff Roland:
Yes of course.

Canada was founded by two European nations and, in spite of the historic restrictions of french speaking immigration (until about 50 years ago), and in spite of the 'island of french in an ocean of english (North America)' - and the assimilation that inevitably ensues, there is still one quarter of the country that speaks french, including 1 million francophone outside of the province of Quebec. The phenomenon is called 'la revanche du berceau' which involved having french families reproduce like rabbits - frequently finding more than 10 kids in each french (at the time called 'Canadian' as opposed to 'British Subjects') families.

Yesterday's debate was geared, for all intents & purposes, to influence the Quebecois voters. Any leader who isn't fluent in both languages, can not be expected to make inroads in Quebec (and this time, it was the Green leader at a disadvantage). No party, in the past 50 years, has managed a majority government without some seats from Quebec.

Yesterday's debate was probably a forrunner of what can be expected in tonight's debate: four left leaning leaders attacking one (governing) conservative party leader.

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